Parkrun Teams Up With Research Partner

parkrun has teamed up with Sheffield Hallam University’s Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre (AWRC) to develop ways to improve the health and wellbeing of the UK population.

The global running organisation, which was named Participation Event of the Year at the BT Sport Industry Awards 2016, will now team up with sports scientists, engineers, psychologists and public health experts as part of the deal.

The new partnership, which launched at Sheffield Hallam parkrun on Saturday 10th September, will enable academics at the AWRC to look at how the free running events are impacting on health outcomes and conduct research into the nation’s physical activity levels.

Tom Williams, chief operating officer for parkrun, said: “This partnership will provide an exciting opportunity for us to support research into exercise, wellbeing and social cohesion, which fits with our vision of creating a healthier and happier planet.

“As the world’s largest community of runners and volunteers we have a unique ability to support researchers in understanding how behaviour impacts health and wellbeing.”

parkrun is the third organisation to sign up to be a major partner of the AWRC after Toshiba and Westfield Health provided £3m of equipment and research funding.

It is delivered alongside Legacy Park Ltd at Sheffield’s Olympic Legacy Park (OLP), which is a joint venture between Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Sheffield City Council.

Professor Steve Haake, director of the AWRC, said: “This is a huge step towards our vision of developing the most advanced research and development centre for physical activity in the world.

“parkrun is an internationally renowned organisation that hosts almost 1,000 runs per week across the world. Their aims mirror ours in that they want to make it as easy as possible for people to be physically active and help them to live better for longer.”